Seatides homeowner fed up with recurring floods

Repeat flooding at her Seatides home has left Rosy Ranganathan fed up and unsure of where to turn for help.

A resident of Oyster Road in Seatides, Ranganathan has seen her home flooded four times since 2015, with the last three happening once a year.

The increasing frequency and perceived lack of help from the eThekwini municipality has left her worried for the future.

Ranganathan lives below the level of the road and sees the roadside of her home fill up with ankle-deep water when a pipe bursts upslope.

Before 2015, the room was fully furnished and used for tenants but now has to be left empty in case another flood comes through.

“I basically do not use that room at all anymore. My husband built a wall between those rooms and the main house but it shouldn’t mean those three rooms are unusable,” said Ranganathan.

The first flooding happened on January 6, 2015 and it took nine days before municipal workers found the fault and repaired the pipe.

“We claimed from municipal insurance for over R150 000 in damages. About a year-and-a-half later, we were paid out R35 000,” she said.

“It took so long that I haven’t even tried to claim again and just use private insurance.”

The second and third cases happened in 2021 and 2022 respectively, but caused little damage.

Unfortunately, the most recent case came over the festive season and proved to be bad timing in terms of municipal response time.

“We first noticed water on December 21st and I could not get anybody to help us. We got a reference number but nothing happened,” she said.

“A team came through and said they needed a trace team to find the fault, but that the trace team was on leave.”

The pipe was eventually fixed on December 31.

“I’m tired now, I’ve had enough of this.”

The municipality had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

The Courier recently reported on a burst pipe causing repeat floods at Seatides Combined School, although it is a different pipe system to that of Ranganathan.

If you feel your property has been damaged by municipal neglect, then according to the municipal website, you can submit a claim.

Claims will only be honoured when the municipality is at fault – events like natural flooding do not count.

To start, download the public liability claim form from durban.gov.za, then complete the form and attach the following supporting documents:

1. Copy of identity document.
2. Three quotations.
3. Proof of damages.
4. Sworn affidavit: asset ownership and that the claimant won’t be claiming from personal insurance.
5. Email the completed form and all documents to claims@durban.gov.za.

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